It’s Too Early to be Having Newlywed Syndrome! ~Childhood Friends Who Rekindled their Love for Each Other ~ - 5 - 7 - Isn’t That Much Alright?
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- It’s Too Early to be Having Newlywed Syndrome! ~Childhood Friends Who Rekindled their Love for Each Other ~
- 5 - 7 - Isn’t That Much Alright?
Isn’t That Much Alright?
“Sorry for the wait—”
Aki called out to Makoto who was seated.
“Ah, Aki-chan.”
Makoto put down the book she was reading and faced Aki with a smile.
Naoto and the other arranged to meet at a library near the school after classes are over in order to talk about preparations to be made on the trip in Health Land and to check Naoto’s novel in advance.
There were many students, so the library was quite lively.
“Makoto-san, what are you called in your school?”
Aki started massaging Makoto’s shoulders while asking the question.
“Waa, that feels good.”
While looking up, Makoto happily closed her eyes.
“So, yeah. Back in middle school, there are people who also called me Mako-chan, but in high school there are others who call me Mako-san, so basically, they just call my name without -san and the like. ‘Makoto-chan’ is kinda long after all. And looking at my height, ‘Makoto-san’ doesn’t really suit me, right?”
“So Makoto-san is a no-no? I feel like I’ll find it hard to call someone’s name without the suffix unless I’m asked to.”
“It’s alright, it’s alright. Should I call you Aki-san as well?”
Makoto opened her eyes and looked up at Aki.
“Ah, I’m alright being called with -san or -chan.”
“Eh—, I don’t know which to use…——. But I feel like it should be Aki-san. You are giving me a massage, so Aki-san it is!”
Naoto was surprised since before he noticed, Aki and Makoto has become closer to each other.
Is it usual for people to change what to call each other like that just two days after meeting each other? That is, Iida and my number of friends just might be totally different from theirs.
When Makoto’s gaze met Naoto’s,
“I found one while waiting. This ‘if I go away’ here became ‘if I go say’.”
She proudly presented him her smartphone while breathing heavily.
Since she was being massaged, for Naoto, it sounded like she was sighing a bit erotically, but Makoto herself was not minding it at all. Just like a child who just spotted a difference while playing spot the difference, Makoto had a joyful look on her face.
“Oh, thank you. ——This, huh. I fell asleep while writing this part, so it lacks proofreading. I’ll fix this immediately.”
Outwardly, Naoto started the revision work calmly, but inside his heart was beating fast because of Makoto’s voice.
I’ll try asking Natsuki if she’ll let me massage her thighs after this.
While thinking about something like that,
“——Okay, I fixed it. It’ll take a short while for the changes to take effect, so visually, it’ll look like it hasn’t been fixed yet.”
He said, returning the smartphone to Makoto.
“The novels that my father has are very difficult so I couldn’t read them, but Morita-kun’s novel is easy to read. So you’ve only been thinking of cute things, Morita-kun.”
“Thank you. Weren’t there any risky parts in there? Won’t Tachibana-san feel repulsive once she reads it?”
He asked.
“There are no bad guys appearing, so there’s nothing to worry until this part. Haruka does read manga regularly. If this is no good, then she wouldn’t be reading manga or other novels that much.
Haruka wants to read it, so this is probably alright. Whether she’ll find it interesting or not, will depend on Haruka so I can’t really say.”
That’s what Makoto said, but inside, she feels like Haruka will rate it 8-9 out of 10.
“Thank goodness—. I’m glad as long as Tachibana-san won’t feel frightened while reading it.”
Knowing that there’s no need to change the contents, Naoto let out a sigh of relief.
“I fully know that I suck at writing novels, since mine is not popular after all. Only one out of every thirty initial readers kept following it, so it’s not good if I expect something out of it by myself.
Until tonight I’ll finish checking Part 1 so I can show them to Natsuki and Tachibana-san.
Thank you, Nagatomo-san. It must’ve been a lot of pressure reading it hurriedly while checking for typos. I’ll treat Nagatomo-san and the others to something today.”
“I haven’t completely checked everything for typos though.”
“It’s alright, it’s alright, I’ll do the remaining checks on my own. I’m really relieved, since until now it felt like having a mountain of homework.
Once we go outside, let’s talk about Health Land while having dinner.”
When Naoto said that, the book that was put on the table entered his gaze.
“Ah, will you be reading that book?”
“Nope. Since I found a typo, I wanted to keep my smartphone’s screen on that page, then I wondered what kind of sentences the usual novel uses, so I just read that book a bit.”
Saying that, Makoto stood up, and returned the book in a nearby bookshelf.
Afterwards she turned around, and looked around her surroundings for a bit,
“Speaking of which, where’s Natsuki-san? Will it just be the people who are her today?”
She asked.
“It looked like she and Hirose-san decided yesterday to have a talk today. They might join us later, either way it looks like it’s better they have their talk outside the library after all.”
“I see, so that person’s not here as well. So it’s just Morita-kun, Aki-san and……?”
“Nice to meet you Nagatomo-san. I’m Sasahara Hatsumi, Aki’s friend.”
Hatsumi, who was sitting beside Aki, lightly looked up at Makoto.
“Ah, yes, Sasahara-san, is it? Nice to meet you. Will Sasahara-san go ot Health Land as well?”
“I’m planning to go.”
“I’m also joining, so please take care of me.”
“Same here.”
Naoto, who’s not good at first-meeting greetings, felt like he just saw a good example of how to increase one’s friends.
Leaving the library, they were now able to talk to each other without any restraint.
“In the meantime, is it okay if we head in front of the station?”
After saying that, Naoto thought for a bit,
“——Somehow, I feel like I’ve always been saying that line lately. I don’t routinely move like this, after all.”
Then he laughed.
“I also felt like I’ve suddenly became busy.”
“Me too, me too. I’ll be meeting lots of people, so I’m nervous.”
“It’s really nerve-wracking meeting someone you don’t know, right? I think that I should talk about Health Land with everyone.”
“Me too. I just barely told them to ask Morita-kun for further details.”
Hatsumi and Makoto were on the same page.
“With that being said, you two got close very fast. Unlike the two of you earlier, I haven’t greeted someone like that until the end.”
Naoto said while they were walking.
“No matter what I always end up saying things like ‘Ah, hello……’ What should I do to be better at it?”
“First call their name, maybe followed by nice to meet you?”
Hatsumi answered.
Naoto frowned.
“Nice to meet you, huh. That’s hard. Even calling people by name is something I hardly ever done.”
“I’m also shy around strangers, so unless the other party talks to me, we wouldn’t be going anywhere. I feel like I’m getting used to the other person while replying to them.”
“But Sasahara-san can talk just like right now just by being spoken to, right?
Me, even when Iida talked to me, for quite a long while I wasn’t able to talk to him head-on. That’s why on our trip to Health Land, I might not be able to speak with the members who I don’t know.
I don’t really mind that per se, but if I only kept talking with Natsuki, the others will know that we’re dating each other, so I want your help.”
“I’m in, but if even talking about Natsuki is not allowed, then talking about the novel is not allowed as well, right? I’m afraid that I might forget about it and let it slip as a result.”
“If it’s not intentional, then it’s fine. Even I made the mistake of calling Natsuki with just her name in front of Ninomiya-san and the others.”
“Well, even before that, when that Natsuki brought you together with us to the okonomiyaki shop, I already thought that you two might be quite close.”
Reminiscing about those events, Aki teased Naoto while smiling.
“Is Natsuki-san that kind of person?”
Makoto blinked in surprise.
“Natsuki is quite famous for not hanging out with guys after all. When such a girl asks you ‘Is it okay if Morita-kun joins us?’ with a red face, you can only think that there might be something romantic going on between them. Sakurako also doubted as much back then.”
“So that happened?”
Naoto was surprised.
“When Sakurako asked her ‘Didn’t you say that you can’t hang out with a guy until he’s acknowledged by your father?’, Natsuki said ‘He acknowledged him, saying please take care of my daughter’, and there was much rejoicing from Sakurako.”
“Hirose-san’s really into conversations about love, huh. For me, Hirose-san’s someone I talk with when it comes to games, I haven’t had any conversations about love with her, so I didn’t know about that side of her.”
“Sakurako likes those kinds of conversations very much. She will really get into it.”
“Does accompanying Iida to choose what clothes to buy kind of another hobby of Hirose-san? Iida was so uneasy he messaged me and even called me. He’s unsure if it was just lip service on her part.”
“Sakurako has the same worry, you know. Maybe that’s the reason she’s meeting with Natsuki today.”
“As I thought, if a boy and a girl go somewhere with just the two of them, they both get nervous.”
“Doesn’t it depend on who they’re with? Even if it’s just a short moment of throwing the trash, being with a scary person would make anyone nervous.”
“Iida also can’t handle being thought of as scary, so I wonder if he gets nervous thinking of what to do when someone’s scared of him. During our second year of middle school, one day after class, when Iida was looking at a mirror while washing hands, he met eyes with a scary-looking third year it seems that third year told him ‘You got some mean-looking eyes, man.’ When he explained that he has those eyes since birth, and that it would be tiring for him to keep them open wider, it seemed like he got off without anything happening to him, but as expected, he was shocked by the confrontation.”
“Now that you said it, he talked about that back when we’re at the okonomiyaki shop. That his eyes are so narrow people would tell him he has a bad attitude.”
“That’s right. It seems there are times when he can tell if a person likes him or not when meeting the person for the first time. We both started at my current part time job, but it seems like he can sense that the manager hates him, so he immediately quit.
That’s why he looked so happy when Hirose-san made him okonomiyaki without being scared of him.”
“What you said just now, can I relay that to Sakurako? That because of this reason, Iida-kun’s worried whether you’re not afraid of him.”
“Good idea, please do so. If she okay with it, I would prefer it if Sakurako calls Iida to tell him not to worry. If it’s a written message, I can feel like he’ll email me again about it being just lip service from her.”
“Got it. Speaking over the phone once will make them more relieved.”
“The two of them are the type who can talk, after all.
I wonder if the reason Iida developed a crush on Tachibana-san was because she also talked to him without feeling afraid of him. If that’s the case, then that Iida who doesn’t like others being frightened of him was quite brave for speaking to Tachibana-san who has fear of men.”
“Is it okay if I tell Haruka-san about that too? I don’t know if Haruka will say that Iida-kun’s not scary at all, but I want to at least tell her about it.”
Naoto was at a lost with Makoto’s question.
“What should we do about Tachibana-san? I don’t want her to be anxious. For the time being, would it be better if I message Iida-kun first if it’s okay to tell Tachibana-san about it?”
“Then try asking him.”
“Understood.
—– I was one of those who were afraid of Iida-kun, so until we became friends, did I hurt his feelings?”
“You are friends right now, so isn’t that much alright?!”
Makoto hit Naoto’s back.
“Tachibana-san’s always by Nagatomo-san’s side because she likes that way of thinking of yours, right?”
“Being by Haruka’s side is fun, but I want to hang out with boys as well—”
Aki’s large sigh prompted Hatsumi and Aki to laugh.
It would be good if everyone would be able to spend the time making acquaintances with the others just like his at Health Land. Naoto thought.